Site Explorer

The Site Explorer is an integrated solution that allows to view and edit the static site content. However, efficient content management is not only a powerful visual HTML editor. You may also need to:

• manage site structure: copy, move, delete, and create files and sections via the web interface;
• quickly access frequent operations directly from the public section via the site control toolbar;
• use visual HTML editor to create and edit pages;
• assign inheritable access permissions for files and sections to user groups;
• create and manage the site menu: edit, add, and delete menu items; add new menu types;
• create and manage navigation chain;
• highlight and quickly edit include areas;
• check spelling and grammar in the visual editor;
• upload files and images to a server from a local machine;
• optimise the site for search engines: support for meta tags and the properties of your site’s pages and sections;
• define page keywords for advertising targeting.

Managing site structure

In the Control Panel, the site structure is rendered as a file manager with folders and files.

The Control Panel showing the Site Explorer

You can edit a current page, create a new section or edit a menu via the Control Panel web interface or from the public section by using the site control toolbar commands.

Site control toolbar

You can start editing information directly from the site public section by using the toolbar commands.

 
Control toolbar in the public section

The toolbar buttons allow you to edit documents in both simple mode and through the workflow module:

  - create a new section;
  - change the section settings;
  - create a new page in simple mode;
  - edit current page in simple mode;
  - create a new page with the workflow module;
  - edit current page with the workflow module;
  - view revision history of the current page;
  - add an information block;
  - add a group to an information block;
  - add an element to an information block;
  - edit information block;
  - edit the information block section;
  - edit the information block element;
  - view revision history of an information block;  
  - go to list of forums in the administrative section;
  - edit the forum parameters;
  - show link clicks statistics of this page; 
  - show page traffic;
  - log out.

The toolbar contains the following tabs:

  Public section - switch to the site view mode;
  Edit site - switch to the include area editing mode; 
  Control panel - switch to the administrative section.

The control toolbar is invisible to and cannot be accessed by common visitors. Only an authorised visitor having sufficient permissions can use it. Certain buttons may be disabled or removed from the toolbar if a user does not have enough permissions for operations that these buttons perform. Administrators can customise the control toolbar by adding buttons facilitating editing any site content. For example, you might want to add a button to edit news or product description etc.

Access permission

Folder access permissions

Configuring permissions allows you to regulate user groups' access to files and catalogs of a site. The following permissions can be assigned to a user group:

• deny – user cannot view information of a page or section;
• read – user can view the file or section contents;
• workflow – includes the read permission and allows you to create and edit files via the workflow (according to the module settings);
• write – includes the read and workflow permissions and allows you to immediately create, edit, copy, and move files and sections;
• full access – includes the read, workflow, and write permissions. Users with full access can also change permissions to files and sections of other users;
• Inherit - the selected files and folders will be given the same access permissions as the parent folder.

All access permissions are inheritable. If a section is copied or moved, it will retain all permissions assigned to it.

Include areas

By choosing the  Edit site tab on the control toolbar, you can highlight editable areas (menu, navigation chain, banners etc. These areas display buttons that, when clicked, open a form in which you can edit the area content.

Include areas

HTML editor

 
HTML editor

Split editing mode

The HTML editor empowers you with a strong tool allowing to:

• edit the web page contents in browser;
• format web page text using a set of basic commands similar to those of the Microsoft Word;
• format text using styles defined in a CSS file of the current template;
• insert hyperlinks into web page text;
• create event-driven links (allowing to view statistics of visitor clicks, downloads and other on-site activity);
• upload images from a local machine and insert them in your web pages;
• use web page HTML templates;
• edit web page properties: title for search engines, keywords, author, description and any other;
• edit the HTML code leaving the overall design of a site consistent.

Dynamic content in pages

The visual HTML editor allows to quickly add any dynamic content to your pages by dragging and dropping the required visual component. The system offers a variety of visual components:

• web forms: web form, web form results etc.;
• e-Store: shopping cart (for current user), simple shopping cart, link to a cart with the number of items;
• polls and surveys: survey form, survey result chart, list of surveys;
• forum: forum topics etc.;
• helpdesk: list of tickets, new ticket etc.;
• newsletters: subscription form etc.;
• information blocks: list of information block elements, customisable list of information block elements etc.;
• commercial catalog: catalog contents etc.;
• many other useful components.

Adding a web form to a site

Users are free to create custom components.

Web site optimization

If you use Bitrix Site Manager for web project optimization, you do not have to change the web page code yourself or even ask for assistance from a professional. Bitrix Site Manager makes it easier than ever. All it takes is a click of one button on the control toolbar. By simply clicking this button you are now able to add new key words, change your web page title or description, and more.

Page properties 

Bitrix Site Manager will help you change and add page properties easily. This feature will help your web site be on the top of the search results. Bitrix Site Manager will highly increase your web page’s ability to be relevant to the search queries. To make your document correctly optimized for the search engines you may add different page properties (for example: "Site author") and change them according to your needs. Setting up the page properties allows you to not only to control the meta tags of the page (e.g. Keywords, Description, etc.), but also add individual data for each page, such as images, additional subtitles, and more.

Grammar and spelling check

New version features using the grammar and spelling check in the visual HTML editor (by clicking ). The spelling checker uses the  MS Office engine for spelling check. All you need is to have MS Office installed, and add your site to the list of trusted sites. You can use the grammar and spell check in the real time.

The HTML editor can be used with Internet Explorer or Firefox. Among other features, the editor implements split editing mode (two panes: the upper showing the design view, and the lower containing the HTML code).